Meaning & Origins

Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from the numerous places so called, a large number of which get their name from Old English mylentūn ‘settlement with a mill’. Others were originally named as ‘the middle settlement (of three)’, from Old English middel ‘middle’ + tūn ‘settlement’. The surname is most famous as that of the poet John Milton (1608–74), and the given name is sometimes bestowed in his honour. Its most illustrious bearer in recent times has been the economist Milton Friedman (1912–2006).

Japanese: ‘rice paddy to the side’, also pronounced Yokoda; it is found throughout Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands. Several families have samurai or noble connections, and there are two very old families of Suruga (now part of Shizuoka prefecture) and Musashi (present-day Tōkyō–Saitama prefectures).